A wall of posters display MODA’s latest covers. Jake Piper/The Daily Cardinal
Heidi Falk
Four years ago, freshman Noa Chamberlin walked up to the Kohl Center, ready to tackle her first student organization fair. Filled with the excitement of getting involved on campus, she wandered around the 30-or-so booths outside the Kohl Center, thinking that was all UW-Madison had to offer before heading home. Completely unbeknownst to her, there were 400+ more organizations inside the Kohl Center waiting to be discovered.
Luckily for Noa, MODA Magazine, a fashion-lifestyle magazine on campus, had a booth outside the Kohl Center that day, where she found her perfect club match. Fast forward four years, Noa is currently the Editorial Director of MODA. She guides the writing team, hires sections editors and coordinates meetings and events.
The UW-Madison Student Organization Fair is a semesterly event that introduces students to roughly 450 registered organizations on campus. For students, the event is an exciting opportunity to discover new clubs, but for club organizers, the org fair is like the Shark Tank of university. The org fair sets the scene for clubs to recruit new members and establish the future of their organizations — but with 450+ clubs, the pressure is on to stand out.
Now that Noa is the new face of MODA at the org fair, she has experienced for herself what makes MODA unique and the visuals that make the magazine stick out.
“Our big posters of our issues have always drawn people in,” said Noa. “People always stop at our booth because we have these huge posters with these [magazine] covers and they’re very eye-catching.”
Once students are drawn in, it’s go-time. Students look for clubs that fill a certain need in their lives, whether it be building a resume, meeting new people or finding a way to destress. A good pitch could be the make-or-break moment for an organization.
“You’re basically explaining what your org is in the briefest but clearest way, while also trying to convince them why they want to do it,” Noa said. “You’re pitching your org.”
Organizations will need to lean into how their organization fills those needs, what makes them different from their competitors and how they are fun to have a successful pitch. Unfortunately, the org fair only gives clubs a minute or two to draw in new members.
MODA uses an interest form at the org fair to invite prospective members to their first meeting, where the real magic happens.
“I feel that when you’re in the group of people and you’re at the meeting and everyone’s engaged and passionate about our club, that tends to be what keeps people staying,” said Noa.
For some organizations like MODA, the org fair can be the perfect opportunity to grab student attention and reel in new members, but for others it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. With ClubCrush, a new tinder-style app, students can easily find clubs catered to their interests and time commitments without the anxiety of the org fair.
“It’s hard to take that first step and get involved, but when you do, then this whole flood of opportunities opens up and you get to try new things,” said Noa.